Our “Zero New Oak” Pinot Noir is aged only second-year and –older barrels (no new oak), focusing on the cherry and berry fruit and bright acidity that makes cold-climate Pinot so special.
The 2011 Zero is fermented in an open-top tank with 10% whole clusters (90% destemmed) and 100% wild yeast and wild ML cul-tures. We have never inoculated at our winery.
The 2011 vintage was the coldest that we have farmed since we planted our vineyard. It was a long, cool year that allowed for an especially long hangtime for our estate grapes. Because we are warmer in the summer than the western end of the valley (while colder in the winter), we were able to pick about one week earlier, escaping the early fall rains and bring-ing in fruit that we were very happy with.